The invention relates generally to a method for system scan operations, and more specifically, to a method for updating of a repetition frequency of system scan operations.
The usage of software asset management tools is quite common in today's computer centers. Enterprises want and need facts in software license management and software license compliance. Software asset discovery tools, such as software use analysis, discover and report software installed on computing systems, like endpoints of any kind. In order to receive a list of software installed on each endpoint managed by a software asset management tool, the software asset management tool has to be configured carefully and software scan periods have to be defined and maintained. These periods are most often set empirically based on administrators' preferences and experiences. It is hard to predict what a perfect balance between keeping the list of installed software on an endpoint up-to-date, and avoiding performance issues on the computing endpoints. Each scan has to use some CPU, RAM, and hard disk resources. Normally, this disturbs or slows down user activities, and thus, it has a negative effect on the user experience with a certain device.
If, for example, the system scans are done relatively seldom, a software package may be installed on an endpoint, may be used, and may be de-installed before the next system scan will be conducted. Thus, the software package may have been used more or less intense between two system scans but may not have been reported according to software license compliance rules.
Additionally, there is a classical conflict between an excessive system scan on the one hand side, and the requirement for system resources on the endpoint and at a central software asset management tool side. The proposed solution is addressing exactly this dilemma.